South hills and quarterback Cameron Deen play in the quarterfinals tonight against Diamond Ranch

Sorry I have been mostly absent for so long. Yesterday’s thanksgiving celebration was a much needed break from last week where layout for the newspaper and covering events sapped most of my energies and time.

Today’s quaterfinal CIF playoff game between South Hills and Diamond Ranch which I am covering tonight for the Walnut paper will probably mark the end of the prep football season for me. No more frantic drives to the Tribune offices to type up stories following the game on friday nights. No more cursing at myself if I accidentally take a wrong turn that may cost me precious moments on deadline. No more playing musical chairs, trying to find the designated computer station assigned to me in the prep department by the editors prior to typing up a story. From now on, I can take my time as the Walnut paper is weekly and has less strict deadlines.

According to the SGV Tribune, South Hills is coming into the game with a lot of question marks. All Star linebackers Wayne Goss and Chris Bowdne may not be healthy enough to play. Defensive end Alex Barrios will not play after being ejected in last week’s first round victory over Schurr. It remains to be seen whether the Huskies will match Diamond Ranch’s intensity. Despite a sub .500 record, DRanch knocked of Muir 21-7 to win their fourth consecutive game last week. Should be a pretty good matchup. Happy thanksgiving weekend to everyone.

What a difference a couple of days make. Last thursday I was in Chino Hills covering the Chino Hills-Diamond Bar game for the Walnut paper and just a few days later, brush fires raging out of control had forced some people to evacuate their homes.

These last few days have been crazy, it’s pretty scary to know that fires have been raging out of control all around us, Sunday and Monday they were as close as Diamond Bar which is only about 15 minute drive to Covina. You can go outside and smell the fires. On saturday I was driving back from an event in Fullerton, but in actuallity it would be more accurate to say that I was trying to get home because the 57 freeway was shut down for awhile in both directions. The fires were so close, it was so dark at 1 PM you would have thought it was evening time. I remember brushing off ashes from my friend’s shoulder as soot rained down on her.

The students at Citrus College have a pretty good first hand account of what went on in the Brea and Fullerton and sorrounding areas. It was pretty amazing.

A tad late for halloween but this was recommended by the “I Read Comics” podcast.

Stan Lee reading Edgar Allan Poe’s classic poem “The Raven”

What a delight! Lee has such a great voice. If he had not chosen a career in writing comics, he could have gone into broadcasting, though he manages to butcher this one a bit, it’s still a fun reading. Enjoy!

Sadly, Halloween maybe over but this month we get twice the dosage of Hack/Slash goodness and one of the books is completely free. That’s right, you heard me right, it’s free. First off, we have Hack/Slash #16 from Devil’s Due. For months I have been saying this is the company’s best comic and it continues on its incredible run. Cassie Hack is comicdom’s most bad ass heroine and her two part crossover with Re-Animator Doctor West of cult movie infamy is devilishly good.

Then there’s also Halloween Man by Drew Edwards, David Baldeon and Scott DM Simmons which features a teamup with Halloween man and Cassie Hack. Halloween Man is a flesh eating zombie with the power of the horror movie sequel and as such, the creative team have a blast teaming him up with Cassie and Vlad. This comic book is one outrageous send up of the horror movie genre but its premise of an alternate reality where heroes are turned to zombies is not only poking fun at such books as Marvel Zombies, but also indirectly paying homage to them. There’s even a very funny parody of the Avengers. I highly recommend it and you can read it for free at this website.

Double the Cassie Hack fun this month and a free comic? How can you pass that up?